Taphophile

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL! I'm an eye doctor and I absolutely go through the roof when my patients come back and tell me they are no longer diabetic! This is SO AWESOME for you, your health, your families, your LIVES!
Not sure if anyone was watching/reading the news in the last few weeks, but a long-term study was just published showing how bariatric surgery was much more effective at controlling and/or eliminating diabetes than medications. We all figured this out already, of course, but hopefully insurance companies will take this new information and stop getting in the way of people who just want to be healthy.
Blessings to all!

That is well put and it will continue to self police for ever....lol
Shel

I concurr with what @rbtnln says. Your head says "I'd love to have a three piece fried chicken dinner from Church's!" but try to do it and your sleeve will tell you that you can force down about half a piece and it won't be pleasant. The VSG is seriously a self-policing weight loss procedure. Hang in there, it will get better.

I concurr with what @rbtnln says. Your head says "I'd love to have a three piece fried chicken dinner from Church's!" but try to do it and your sleeve will tell you that you can force down about half a piece and it won't be pleasant. The VSG is seriously a self-policing weight loss procedure. Hang in there, it will get better.

I concurr with what @rbtnln says. Your head says "I'd love to have a three piece fried chicken dinner from Church's!" but try to do it and your sleeve will tell you that you can force down about half a piece and it won't be pleasant. The VSG is seriously a self-policing weight loss procedure. Hang in there, it will get better.

I concurr with what @rbtnln says. Your head says "I'd love to have a three piece fried chicken dinner from Church's!" but try to do it and your sleeve will tell you that you can force down about half a piece and it won't be pleasant. The VSG is seriously a self-policing weight loss procedure. Hang in there, it will get better.

I concurr with what @rbtnln says. Your head says "I'd love to have a three piece fried chicken dinner from Church's!" but try to do it and your sleeve will tell you that you can force down about half a piece and it won't be pleasant. The VSG is seriously a self-policing weight loss procedure. Hang in there, it will get better.

I'm getting kinda irritated with these holier than thou posts, putting people down for trying a nibble of bread. All of us were such suckers for food that we let ourselves get grossly overweight, and suddenly we're supposed to be super vigilant with no mistakes for weeks before and after surgery. Jesus people. She ate a bite of bread. It hurt, she learned.

Just a word of advice - if you do give into your cravings, I guarantee your body's reaction will be so awful you won't do it again. I craved Cookies. Bad. I finally gave into temptation about 2 weeks after I went on solids. BAD mistake. I was so miserable. Spent the evening in the bathroom, if you know what I mean. I agree your stomach is trying to pull a fast one on you.
One thing I learned in this journey is that sugar is addictive. Once you start in the morning, you can't stop all day. So if you put sugar in your coffee, you will crave sugar all ..... day...... long. UGH! Also, artificial sweetener (Equal, Sweet N Low, etc.) all produce the SAME EFFECT in your brain as sugar does. Your brain can't tell the difference. So, if you put Equal in your coffee in the morning, you will crave sweets all.....day.......long. And carbs. It's vicious I tell you.....VICIOUS! LOL!!! My understanding is that Stevia doesn't do that to you. I need to try it. But, for you, this may be the key to why you're having those cravings?
Good luck. You can do it!!!!

I can totally relate to your post. I had a very difficult surgery (mine was a revision from band to sleeve) in November and had a 4 day hospital stay due to complications. I too had severe swelling and wasn't able to get any liquids in (other than IV's) the first three days. I would try and it would come right back out. I had an Upper GI done and it showed there was no passage way due to the swelling..... So, I just had to wait for the swelling to go down.
When I was about a week out, I fell into a terrible depression (despite being on Zoloft) and to just wait it out. I remember crying because I was thinking about my dog, who is 8, would die in several years. I have no reason to believe this, except she's 8 but she's healthy. I'm just mentioning this because a lot of what I felt was just emotion and not rational at all. My hormones were all over the place, I was sore, tired and HUGRY and I lost my most basic coping skill, eating for comfort.
As far as sleeping, I asked my primary to prescribe Ambien to help me sleep and she did. I have always struggled with insomnia but after surgery it was ridiculous and this was really helpful. I am a side sleeper as well and couldn't sleep in my bed for about 4 weeks. I slept in a recliner with pillows and that made for a comfortable night sleep.
There is light.... I know it feels dark and hopeless in the moment but you will make it through to the other side.

I did the sleeve and have never been happier. I am looking at my 1 year anniversary and I am 135 lbs down. I think if you are really addicted to sugar the bypass is more for you. I didn't have this problem and was scared of the complications that you can get with bypass. My surgeon does both. I was type 2 also has gone! I was maxed out on all the oral meds I am on none now since January. I can eat anything I want but just a really small amount. I think you really have to look at your relationship with food and what kinds of foods get you in trouble. Good luck either way we are behind you and hope you love the new life you will be entering! Change is hard but it's soooooo worth it.

Hi, I understand the confusion but you need to make this decision for yourself. Maybe you should have this discussion with your doctor and then it will be more clear what is medically best for you.
I chose the sleeve for myself for all of the same reasons that were given by LumpySpacePrincess. I just needed something to help me eat less so I could lose the weight. I didn't want to have to take Vitamins for the rest of my life and worry about malabsorption issues, and I didn't want to deal with "gassiness". I have had no dumping as does happen with the rny. I know the Sleeve is permanent but I wasn't looking for a diet... I was looking for a change in life style so I could have a permanent healthy life. I suppose everyone has their own reasons for choosing which surgery they have but if you do your research and make the comparisons you will find the one that works best for your life style and for your issues. I wish you much luck.

Weight loss similar for both. If you have diabetes then there is an advantage to bypass because bypassing part of small intestine biochemically alters things and people can be in non diabetic range in only few days after surgery even before losing much weight. If you have addiction to sweets then dumping may be helpful to get you to change your behavior. There is a bit more risk with bypass. But it is still gold standard in WLS with the most research on it for effectiveness long term.
Sleeve has been done for a long time for other reasons besides WLS and is somewhat safer. Only past 5 years or so for sole WLS (without the DS part)
Sleeve may reduce hunger considerably because of reduced grehlin. However hunger does come back usually. But not as strong.
Sleeve is not reversible though could be changes to a bypass. The rest of stomach is discarded and can't be put back though. Sleeve may not be good choice if you have history of GERD.
Bypass can be revised by very experienced surgeon since rest of stomach still inside you. Not that you'd provably want to!
I had no co morbidites nor diabetes so chose sleeve and have lost 100 lbs in a year. Even though supposedly no dumping I can't eat real sweet stuff like ice cream or I do get a bit if a dumping response. It's not fun. Which is good. I won't eat ice cream anymore at least or more than 1 bite.
Maybe you already knew all the differences above. Just choose what's right for you.

I got the sleeve because I didn't want to change the way my digestive system functions, but just make my stomach smaller so I can eat less. There is no malabsorption with the sleeve, and less risk of dumping. I also know an entire family of people who are at risk for an aggressive form of hereditary stomach cancer, so they all opted to have their stomachs removed quite a few years ago and they are doing just fine without it. That gave me hope that I would be able to live a normal life after the sleeve, and four months post-op I can say that I am living a normal life. Sometimes I even forget my sleeve is there! I feel like my old self, just not able to eat as much.

It's like Pavlov's dog......stomach growls = eat food. You used to an old habit with a trigger and a response. My stomach growls constantly since I got sleeved. Doesn't mean a thing.
You're just responding the the head hunger thing. If you actually get your head busy thinking of something else, then you will find you weren't actually hungry. You're just bored and thinking about eating out of old habits. Probably exactly what you continually did pre-sleeve. Difference was, then you did eat. If I was sitting around with nothing to do, my mind would of course fill in the idle time with the thoughts of needing something to eat......and I obliged every time. It was more of a pattern than hunger. And because I enjoyed the food, I adapted to the pattern easily. Now I just have to fight off the head hunger and change the pattern. When I feel myself randomly thinking about food, I try to go busy myself by doing something to change my concentration. Go to the gym, take a walk, ride my bike, even clean out the garage. Anything.
In actuality, I find I am completely satisfied with my routine little 3 ounce meals and my limited 800 calorie daily food intake. No real hunger pangs. Convincing the mind will take longer.

I'm having a cup of Decaf now and I tell you I feel like a coffee virgin! lol I have a new appreciation for that morning cup of Joe...yum:)

That's your head hunger kicking in...if you were to keep on eating you would get sick..See it for what it is and kick it to the curb! Good for you, you are starting to read your body!!!

I'm so glad you asked this question, and I'm so glad that I'm not alone. Like many others here, I really don't want to eat anymore. It has actually become my "job" to make sure I eat and drink enough in a day. Although I certainly don't want to go back to the old days of food ruling my life, it would be nice to actually want to eat a reasonable amount of food and not have that slightly queasy feeling after eating a couple of ounces. I'm four months post-op and have lost 65 pounds. I love the progress, but do miss eating.

I'm so glad you asked this question, and I'm so glad that I'm not alone. Like many others here, I really don't want to eat anymore. It has actually become my "job" to make sure I eat and drink enough in a day. Although I certainly don't want to go back to the old days of food ruling my life, it would be nice to actually want to eat a reasonable amount of food and not have that slightly queasy feeling after eating a couple of ounces. I'm four months post-op and have lost 65 pounds. I love the progress, but do miss eating.

Your post reminded me of a re-occurring dream:
I have garnered the ability to fly with nothing but the power of my will.
I fly around friends, relatives, and strangers and they just look at me indifferently.
I am screaming in self promotion, "I can fly..I am unique...no one else can do this!"
No dice. Nobody cares. I am swamped by the feeling of frustration.
What I am missing in my dream is the sheer joy of flying. I have risen to a challenge that I had considered impossible. I am doing what I thought I could never do. But I am missing the joy of my new freedom to see the world from new perspectives because I waste my dream trying to get elevated approval from the earth bound.
Back into the conscious world, I have experienced this. My wife got the gastric bypass a short time before I got sleeved. Our weight loss was similar and we reached our goals.
We moved to Florida and met with relatives here. They went absolutely nuts about how great my wife looked...to me they just said, "Good for you." Mrs.Astounding Transformation and her husband, Chopped Liver. If I weren't the mature man that I am I would have been jealous but I was happy for her and didn't let it bother me.
Peoples is peoples.
Grab your joy where you can find it.

Good for you, your bragging is warranted.
I agree with doc, 400 is mighty low, not real healthy in long term and a messer up of metabolism. Sometimes more (food)leads to less (fat). Eat good food and exercise, you want to spare and build muscle tissue. Good muscles are the key to long term success.

Here you go

Here ya go:
Before:

After:

Gained 240 pounds between us.
Sorry...kidding....reverse everything.

You used to also get a lot of Water out of the food you ate. Now there's less coming in on all fronts. You're very early in so I wouldn't go to any extremes to cause movements just yet. I drink enough to have clear pee (finally) but I still only pee maybe twice a day. Everyone's different.
As for the other end of the *cough* discussion, I think I went once the first week I was home. The doc told me that I'd be messed up as the body 'wakes up' from anesthesia. Then I went about every third day for a while. Once I got on purees it picked up a bit. But I didn't get back to daily until like 2 months out. RJs spot on correct. Your intestines are very long and your body is in no rush to pass the vital nutrients out. Remember you're kinda starving your body so its going to be very possessive of every little bit of food and Water you give it!
If when you do go, its painful or problematic, call the doc. I had to take a softener and laxative at the beginning of solids. And at that time I introduced a SF Fiber chewie and now I'd say things are "normal-ish".

WHen you're right out of making the most enormous change of your life and it doesn't go like you thought it would, it's scary and nerve wracking. Holy Hell, have some patience isn't the most supportive response I've ever seen.
Here's what I know: The sleeve works, first of all. You may not lose fast and you may not lose like you want to lose, but the sleeve works. Patience is absolutely key.
Tell us about where you started-- Highest weight, start weight, current weight. How about inches? I lost TONS of inches but very little scale weight. I STILL lose slowly on the scale but the inches are where it's at. Are your clothes loose/baggy? Seeing any changes in your body that don't translate to scale numbers? Remember your NSV's - non scale victories- What doesn't hurt that used to hurt? what can you do that you couldn't?
What's your post op plan been like?
I know this is VERY hard but everyone else is EVERYONE ELSE. Not YOU. So don't worry about them....you have to focus on YOUR plan and YOUR body. You can't go back, so keep moving forward. Have a talk with your nutritionist about your food needs... at a month out I was jUST starting to eat solids, and I had lost maybe 12 lbs.